The Supreme Court of Canada weighed in on the side of the terminally ill in a decision that's bound to have Big C and small c conservatives seething.
The Supreme Court of Canada says a law that makes it illegal for anyone to help a person commit suicide should be amended to allow doctors to help in specific situations.
The ruling only applies to competent adults with enduring, intolerable suffering who clearly consent to ending their lives.
The court has given federal and provincial governments 12 months to craft legislation to respond to the ruling; the ban on doctor-assisted suicide stands until then. If the government doesn't write a new law, the current one will be struck down.
At last all parties in the Commons will be forced to deal with this long-neglected issue. I hope they'll see the way forward through something akin to Oregon's Death with Dignity Act, instead of the flawed system proposed by Quebec.
This is a matter of religious freedom - freedom from the shackles of religion.
For more information on the Oregon legislation and its history since it was enacted in 1994, go here, here, or here.
4 comments:
"The court has given federal and provincial governments 12 months to craft legislation to respond to the ruling; the ban on doctor-assisted suicide stands until then. If the government doesn't write a new law, the current one will be struck down."
Did it take a lawyer to write that? The law is gone until we say it is gone? Huh?
No, that's a fairly standard procedure when the courts strike down a law.
I'm an 11+ Stage IV cancer survivor whose gone thru chemo 2X. Wd never go tru it again. Even considered suicide or going overseas.
Who knows better than you, kpn? Thanks and I'm glad you're still with us. Maybe you can open a few eyes.
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